How Does Marketing Do It?

The mission of my marketing department, as described in a previous post, is to 1) build interactive relationships, 2) increase community support and 3) generate revenue. How do we actually do that?

My marketing team here at the American Red Cross accomplishes its work in these three steps:

We seek understanding. We listen. We ask lots of questions. We read what others are saying. We set up RSS feeds, do Google searches and filter incoming information through tools such as TweetDeck. We study the landscape and we keep asking lots of questions.

We create content. We have a story to tell. In fact, we have lots of stories to share. We write content for our Web site. We take pictures and upload them to our Facebook fan page. We produce award-winning print publications. When appropriate, we send out news releases, e-mails and tweets.

We engage in conversations. In this 2.0 world of social media, we can no longer be content to just push out communications. We must participate in conversations going on around us. Sometimes we even initiate conversations on our Facebook page or through other media. We will join ongoing conversations by commenting on blog posts or someone’s Facebook status update. We look for ways to keep conversations alive by using such tactics as retweeting, linking to other blogs and other interactive methods.

While our mission remains constant, social media have given us new tools for doing our work. They’ve changed the way we achieve the results we seek.

What I love about my job is that it directly parallels my personal mission, which is to 1) understand, 2) create and 3) share.

Some people complain that the line between our personal and professional lives is becoming blurred. I smile, content in knowing that my personal and professional worlds are parallel and synced. It’s hard to know where one ends and the other begins. Life and work are good when there’s a holistic synergy between the two.

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2 Responses to How Does Marketing Do It?

FYI … The service HubSpot makes monitoring and participating in conversations easier. Hook up with my friend Brandon Smith there (no business relationship).

I am observing, however, that conversations are quickly losing their genuineness in many circles — victims of marketing, PR and search optimization initiatives to be heard even when one has nothing meaningful to say. Kind of reminds me of hanging out with my young teens and their friends!

I agree, Stephen. Conversations are losing genuineness, esp. in areas where 1.0 marketers are using the 2.0 tools to push (1.0 tactic) their shallow messages. For 2.0 marketing to be effective there must be significant interaction. That give and take requires deep listening and understanding on the part of everyone.

Duane Hallock

Duane Hallock is a corporate communicator and marketing strategist who really believes that 1) every-thing happens for a reason, 2) strategy comes before tactics and 3) the future can be brighter than the past.

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